It’s not about creating this century’s musical revolution – only about imagining truly original variations for some of today’s indie scene’s most familiar themes. Once Superhumanoids are done recycling their favourite patterns of the last few decades’ catalogue, what you’re left with is ethereal garage, synthpop with a zest of deep bass, sun-kissed new wave, or for sure the most unexpected cover of The Ramones’ ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’, which, if it weren’t for the lyrics, you definitely would NOT recognise. As many improbablities as they have on their track record, the world in which they blossom is a cotton-coated dreamy bubble, in which any crazy idea lodges itself as comfortably as could do. Not many rules apply here – but one thing’s sure, Superhumanoids are unlikely to be dishing out chaotic nonsense. They know what they’re doing. You can see them every Monday throughout the month of October at The Echo, the next show being on October 8th, with locals Mr Little Jeans and Brooklyn’s Carousel.

Here’s two things about Mini Mansions. One, their guitarist is no other than Queens Of The Stone Age bassist Michael Shuman. Two, anything to do with ‘mini’ is as far from being reflective of their output as could be. 

The first notion that comes to mind, listening to just about any of their tracks, is that these three guys are very fond of The Beatles. More specifically, The Beatles’ juicy take on psychedelia. But where the Liverpudlian lads might have privileged a softer, elusive aesthetic, Mini Mansions are heading for grand and somehow stable key-driven tracks, dark & deep effusions of generously reverberated goodness and polyphonic deliriums. Add to those some vocal harmonies that will TRULY take you back to memories of the four most famous Northeners in rock&roll history, and you’re in for a lush out-of-time psych-pop treat made of many layers to venture through as you please. You can listen to their recent EP ‘Besides‘ here, and catch them at The Observatory on Friday (10.5) with Brooklynites Pegasus Warning & Twin Shadow. 

Things have simmered down on the Well Hung Heart front. As we get closer to the release of their debut album, ‘Young Enough To Know It All‘, the OC duo (recent Deli LA artists of the month) have dropped a new single, ‘This Is Not Love‘ – streaming below. Of course it builds up, it isn’t what you’d call a ‘soft’ song. Yet, tapping into the band’s ‘tamed side’, this slow-burning blues-laced track reveals a band which, if one may have wondered whether they could only dish out high-power engine-like rock&roll, can pace itself down, drop a few decibels and still remain the raw sounding band that attracted to it more attention with its track ‘Devil’. If you’re curious, you can listen to a rehearsal version of the new single, released a year ago, on the band’s Soundcloud. The video for ‘This Is Not Love‘, to which they are adding the finishing touches, will be out later this month. 

Disco/punk? Ok, the result isn’t really half as improbable as one might think. For one, disco’s merely faint flavour in the rhythms and melodies, really there as a festive canvas rather than a true label to stick to Eyes Lips Eyes. Then, we’re speaking more of a post-punk sound than punk rock – however, they’ve certainly retained the careless stance of the latter, and a good dose of irony to complete the picture. We’re so pretty! We’re so pretty! Following up to their 2011 album ‘Blue Red’, which included its own cover of Talking Head’s ‘Psycho Killer‘, ELE released in August an EP with RCR, What You Want (If You Want), and are now about to hit the road for an extensive tour, which will be starting at The Satellite on October 3rd! 

With a new single ‘World’s End‘ released a few weeks ago, LA’s indie rock four piece Army Navy – who over the last few years have earned themselves wide critical approval – is about to leave for a new tour. World’s End is one of their specialties, wholesome indie pop with a top coat of 1960s cheese contrasting with the depth and quality of the sound. Second on the record, a cover of Yazoo’s hit debut ‘Only You’, much fuller in sounds and emotionally passionate than its original. Until the end of October, Army Navy will be travelling around the country, hitting Portland,OR on the 25th before they head back to California. Stream the single here, and see them off on Wednesday (9.26) at The Troubadour with Nashville’s The Features. 

Tremelo, the opening track that opens the debut full-length of Wires in the Walls, entitled New Symmetry, outpours an exultant array of bright colors that builds up into a rousing chorus that breathes with utter beatitude. The baroque pop quintent has just released a video accompaniment to the song that is just as exciting, which uses innovative GoPro placement to capture a hoop dancer as she spins like a merry-go-round across different locations in Southern California. They’ll be performing live at Silverlake Lounge tonight at 9:00pm.

It doesn’t take much thought to just amp up and make some tumultous noise. Especially for a trio like Occult Wisdom, a bare-bones proposition that celebrates the rock n’ roll primitivism of the late sixties by invoking some killer bludgeoning riffs and thick overdubbed guitars. Like an early Black Sabbath recording, the production sounds rough-edged and smoggy, an element that further emphasizes their affinity for the era they affectionately revisit. A power trio in spirit, the pummeling solos and blues-rock licks are refreshingly outmoded, an open window that visibly lays bare the psychedelic hues of a bygone era that unquestionably needs more exposure when it’s this good.

It’s all in with Stab City, the rabid howling, drum smashing and big crashing collisions – loud as hell, with a singer who sounds like he may have lost it and a sense of frantic anger that takes them from explosive cacophony to breakdown with no sense of build-up but only whimsical ups and downs. Quite a ride, of that ‘blow-off-some-steam’ trash/punk designed for all who like to get a little mental by the stage and follow into frenzy some epileptic guitars and gritty basslines – straight from the gutter to your eardrums. They’ll be playing at Bootleg on Saturday (9.22)

To those who cringe when they hear the word surf, this isn’t so happy – picking different elements for one of the most looked over sixties memories to lodge itself in our indie scenes, The Californian is a band from LA with an EP,and album and a couple of singles in their back-pocket, and a dark approach to surf patterns – way lower in tone and mood than any Best Coast. The waves can flow nonchalantly like they can be lively, but as the atmosphere fills up with fuzz, minor chords and monotone vocals, there’s always something dragging their songs towards a peacefully numbing melancholy. See them at The Satellite on September 22nd with Winnipeg’s Royal Canoe and locals Boys School.

Female fronted femme fatales Tashaki Miyaki have already enjoyed some breakthrough success across the pond, which in part is a shame because any opportunity to see them live in the local scene becomes a rare and special event. There’s no surprise as to why they’ve garnered wider appeal – the plaintive, early-eighties feedback drench and intricate vocal tonality of their sound evokes the golden days of Britpop. But there’s also quite a bit of that arty, Warholian sensibility as well – their latest video, "Tonight", ops to be sinister with an added dose of humor, in which two lovers are up to no good, plotting a series of murders that will eventually result in tragedy. We’re never quite sure about the final outcome, but just like any Bresson or Godard film imagery is key and morality is relative; the rest just lends itself to open interpretation.

This is a busy year for Crooked Cowboy, LA-based songwriter who, along with his band The Freshwater Indians, specialises in an experimental aesthetic straight out of a Western flick gone wrong, from post-punk-infused cavalcades of frantic country music to psychedelic orchestral alt-folk filled with droning vocals and eerie noises fuzzing through wide open sonic spaces. Delectably bizarre. With a latest five-track EP, Annalog And Her Hopeful Diaries released via Neurotic Yell Records, a next one in the making as we speak and a forthcoming collaboration with no other than Mr. Ariel Pink announced for November, the artist with the most self-explanatory name possible and a track record that would make anyone green with envy will be performing with the band a free show put together by Neurotic Yell at The Echoplex this evening (9.4).

Almost ten years after its formation, LA-based folk-pop quartet Lavender Diamond  is sharing a new dose of its heartfelt romanticism so volatile and stripped-down it misses tacky-candy by a mile, carried by the lovely Becky Stark and her caresse of a soothing voice that’ll take you right into a colourful field of dreams. With this new album Incorruptible Heart (an excerpt from which is available to stream below) about to be released (announced for September 25th), before heading to NYC for a Mercury Lounge show, the band will be playing a few gigs on the LA circuit, including a residency at one of its most famous venues. During the month of September, Lavender Diamond serves its sweet lullabies drenched in dark folky undertones to The Echo‘s audience, every Monday starting on the 10th.